Toles cycles around Coors the long way

♦ August 31, 2016 ♦ 2 Comments

It may have taken three days and two games but with one mighty opposite field blast, Andrew Toles cycled and slammed Coors field.

Dave Roberts didn’t make it easy for Toles.

  • He didn’t start Monday but still tripled in his only at-bat in the 9th inning.
  • He didn’t start the 1st game of the DH and the Dodgers were shut out
  • He doubled off the RCF wall in his first at-bat in the nightcap
  • He walked
  • He singled
  • He went boom boom out go the lights

Provided KJ can convert this, Toles is now 11 – 2 when starting and no win was more unlikely than this one.

 

Toles still 10 – 2 in games he starts as Dodgers lose two straight with Toles on bench

♦ August 31, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Nothing says you are in a mini-slump when you can only score one run in eighteen innings at Coors.

The Dodgers have scored one run at Coors and the man responsible for that lone run was Andrew Toles who tripled in the 9th inning on Monday Night.

As Toles continues to sit on the bench he can’t change his 10 – 2 record as a starter.

Luckily the Dodgers face a RHP in the nightcap of the doubleheader so we should expect Toles/Pederson/Reddick in the outfield, but that would mean Howie sitting down. What will Dave Roberts do with that situation?

 

Let’s play two – 1970 Dodger/Reds DH memories

♦ August 31, 2016 ♦ 3 Comments

When you have been going to Dodger games for 46 years many of them just get lumped together but I have a few that still stand out in my mind. It is no surprise I’m sure to the memory experts that I remember every game I went to in 1970 because that was the first year I went to Dodger Stadium.

My first game was a 1 – 0 shutout thrown by Don Sutton

Later I saw the Bill Singer no-hitter with my cousin Ted Koerner and his dad Bill Koerner.

Craig Minami and I have talked about seeing a Dodger DH in the early 70’s before, last night he said his was in 1972 and that was his first game, so I did some research to see if it was the same day. It was not, my doubleheader occurred August 9th, 1970.  Craig’s was labor day 1972. This one was easy to find because my main memory of the game is sitting down in the LC Pavillon and watching Pete Rose launch a shot off the center field wall for a double to start the game. Thanks to Bref that was easy to find.

These were my memories before I looked at the box scores:

  • Pete Rose had a monster game and led off the game with a double off the CF wall
  • Willie Davis looked great in CF
  • My Dad started out the game as white as a man from Appleton, WI should look, and was as red as any ripe tomato could be by the end of the long long day.
  • That I was thoroughly entertained for both games, I thought we won them both but wasn’t sure.

These are the actual facts

Game One:

  • Pete Rose did indeed have a monster game. Besides the double he led off with, he hit not one but two home runs. Luckily they were both solo shots.
  •  Maury Wills had four hits in the first game
  • Future 1970 ROY Ted Sizemore had three hits and drove in three runs.
  • No wonder I was entertained, the Dodgers scored four runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to win the game.  Ted Sizemore and Willie Davis had the key hits in that inning. And it included these kinds of moves by Sparky Anderson you just don’t see very often.

Jimmy Stewart moves from 2B to C
Tommy Helms moves from SS to 2B
Dave Concepcion replaces Johnny Bench (C) playing SS batting 4th
  • Relief pitcher Jim Brewer pitched two shutout innings for the win.

Game two:

  • Damn, we won 13 – 3, again no wonder I was entertained
  • Ted Sizemore had four more hits giving him seven hits in the doubleheader.
  • My favorite player at the time, Billy Grabarkewitz had three hits including a triple
  • 3 Dog hit a triple, that had to be the first time I’d see him fly around the bases
  • Alan Foster pitched a complete game

 

So this left me wondering several things.

How many times did Pete Rose hit two home runs in a game? Four times Pete Rose hit two homes. This game was the last time he would hit two home runs in a game, however, in 1978 Rose would hit three home runs in a game.

How many complete games did Alan Foster pitch? A lot more than I thought, 26 complete games and six shutouts.  Foster was a big part of the 1970 rotation but was traded the following winter for catcher Duke Sims.

That was fun, thanks to Craig for making me look this up, and for the Dodgers in playing this doubleheader today.

 

 

Josh Reddick just isn’t measuring up

♦ August 30, 2016 ♦ 3 Comments

You’d be hard pressed to find a Dodger regular this century who has had a worse month than Josh Reddick has had in August. For a team used to the heroics of Justin Ruggiano, Juan Rivera, Marlon Anderson, and Belliard after being acquired for the stretch run, the failure of Reddick to launch has been tough to watch.

With a left-hander going for the Rockies today, and a right-hander on Wednesday, it is a good bet that Josh will sit today and play tomorrow which should be his last start in August.

You can say Josh is hitting into hard luck and you’d be right, his BABIP is absurdly low, but most of that was built upon his first week with the team. You can’t really say he’s been hitting the ball that hard in the last two weeks. Though yesterday he did hit a shot that the 2nd baseman made a play on, but hey 2nd baseman are supposed to be able to make that play.

So how does Josh measure up against other trade deadline acquisitions that got at least 50 at bats over the past ten years?

Player | AtBats | XBH | BA/OBP/Slug%
Josh Reddick (2016) | 83 | 1-0-0 | .145 / .202 / .157
Justin Ruggiano (2015) | 55 | 4-1-4 | .291 / .350 / .618
Michael Young (2014) | 51 | 2-1-0 | .314 / .321 / .392
Juan Rivera (2011) | 219 | 12-1-5 | .274 / .333 / .406
Ryan Theriot (2010) | 198 | 5-0-1 | .242 / .323 / .283
Ronnie Belliard (2009) | 77 | 7-0-5 | .351 / .398 / .636
Casey Blake (2008) | 211 | 12-1-10 | .251 / .313 / .460
Manny Ramirez (2008) | 187 | 14-0-17 | .396 / .489 / .743
Shea Hillenbrand (2007) | 70 | 0-2-1 | .243 / .257 / .343
Wilson Betemit (2006) | 174 | 7 -0 – 9 | .241 / .306 / .437
Marlon Anderson(2006) | 64 | 3 – 2 – 7 | .375 / .431 / .813

Not well at all:

I had to go back to 2006 just so I could post Magic Marlon Anderson’s numbers once again, every time you can squeeze in Magic Marlon you have to do it.

Josh Reddick has an OPS below the slug% of everyone but Theriot and Hillenbrand. That is hard to do. Actually, you can’t really imagine an OPS of .359 for an outfielder in over 80 at bats because it just doesn’t happen. Until now.

How does he measure up against the player he replaced?

Player | AtBats | XBH | RBI | BA/OBP/Slug%
Josh Reddick (LAD 2016) | 83 | 1-0-0 | 0 | .145 / .202 / .157
Yasiel Puig (July 2016) | 60 | 5-0-1 | 10 | .283 / .389 / .417

Not well at all

How does he measure up against the guy sitting on the bench while he starts?

Player | AtBats | XBH | RBI | BA/OBP/Slug%
Josh Reddick (2016) | 83 | 1-0-0 | 0 | .145 / .202 / .157
Anthony Toles (2016) | 54 | 5-1-2 | 8 | .370 / .435 / .611
Anthony Toles (August) | 16 | 2-1-2 | 7 | .500 / .526 / 1.125

Not well at all

I think Toles could go hitless in his next 50 at bats and still have out produced Josh Reddick.

Anyway how about that slug% from Toles:)

I didn’t do this to pound on Josh Reddick, but when someone puts up these numbers over a whole month and was traded for to do the exact opposite, it kind of stands out and shouldn’t’ be buried under the rug.

I know he’s still starting because Dave Roberts feels that for the team to succeed in the long run they need the Josh Reddick they traded for, not the anemic hitter they got so far.

Roberts is probably right, as long as playing Josh while he’s in this horrific slump doesn’t cost the team a win that he is unable to get back for them when he gets going.

I probably would not replace Josh for the long term, but I think I’d hedge my bets and play Toles while he’s blistering hot and Reddick is cold. In no time at all Toles will probably slow down but Just for argument sake, Toles is 10 – 2 in games he has started through August 27th.  Josh is 11 – 9.

 

 

LAD rookie records are going to fall

♦ August 29, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

As Corey Seager continues to wreck havoc on the baseball world the LAD rookie records will be next to feel the strength of his bat. Corey has already hit the most doubles for a LAD rookie but other records are about to fall.

He should take out the runs record of 88 tonight or tomorrow. He won’t be able to pass Mike Piazza and his 35 home runs but he might be able to take the OBP record away from Mike. Slug% is probably safe. Hits are going down, runs are going down, Average is dicey but could fall.

Corey in Coors for three games against a tired young Rockie rotation. Oh my

From the LAD game notes:

Los Angeles Rookie Leaders, Since 1958

 Category              Seager (Rank)      Leader

Hits                         162 (3rd)                 Sax (180, 1982)

Runs                       87 (2nd)                   Sax (88, 1982)

Doubles                 37 (1st)                    Seager

Home Runs           23 (T-3rd)              Piazza (35, 1993)

Average                 .321 (1st)                 Piazza (.318, 1993)

SLG                        .543 (2nd)                Piazza (.561, 1993)

OBP                        .377 (1st)                 Piazza (.370, 1993)

Other Corey Seager notes from the LAD game notes:

  • Seager is tied for the National League lead with 162 hits (with Arizona’s Jean Segura)
  • Seager is tied for the National League lead with 37 doubles (with the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo and Washington’s Daniel Murphy).
  • According to Stats, LLC, Seager would become the first NL rookie in the modern era (since 1900) to lead (or tie for first) the Senior Circuit in both hits and doubles. Previously, only Ross Barnes (1876, Cubs) had accomplished the feat in National League history, while Tony Oliva (1964, Twins) and Dick Wakefield (1943, Tigers) had done so in the American League.
  • Seager also ranks among the NL leaders in runs (87, 4th), total bases (274, 4th), batting average (.321, 3rd), multi-hit games (47, T-2nd), extra-base hits (63, 6th) and slugging percentage (.543, 9th).

How about Scott Schebler’s weekend in Arizona?

♦ August 29, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Three games, six hits, three home runs, seven runs batted in.

Since Aug 15th:

49 at bats, 17 hits, five home runs, 13 RBI, 1.057 OPS

Oh yeah

 

Rookies Brock the week

♦ August 29, 2016 ♦ 1 Comment

The Dodger rookies faced down the Reds/Giants/Cubs giving the Dodgers a huge lift during a big week of games. It wasn’t your normal rookies either, sure Corey Seager was brilliant once again, but this rookie week was filled with wonderful antics from unlikely sources.

Monday – Dodgers crushed the Reds 18 -9 and sure Adrian Gonzalez hit three home runs and drove in eight runs, but the big story were the rookies Andrew Toles and Rob Segedin hitting their first major league home runs back to back.  Oh, and Corey Seager hit a home run in the same inning.  Three rookies, three home runs, one inning

Tuesday – Rookie Kenta Maeda won the game, and Andrew Toles and Rob Segedin hit their 2nd major league home runs one game after hitting their first major league home runs back to back.  Toles didn’t even start and still drove in three runs. Rookie Corey Seager had three hits including his 35th double.

Wednesday – The rookies sat this one out, giving up the limelight to Rich Hill who while not a rookie made his Dodger debut and won the game 1 – 0. Segedin took a one-day paternity leave, and Toles after hitting home runs on Monday/Tuesday was given the day off by Dave Roberts because why play the hottest player on your team when you can play the coldest player on your team instead.

Thursday –  Rookie Ross Stripling pitched well enough giving up three runs in five innings. Toles once again was given the day off, Rob Segedin did play but did not hit a home run. I guess being a father zapped him of his baseball abilities. Oh yeah, the Dodgers lost 4 – 0

Friday – Rookies once again sat this one out. Literally. Toles and Segedin on the bench again but did get to pinch hit.  But hey Seager played and got two hits. Oh yeah, the Dodgers lost 6 – 4.

Saturday – Rookie Julio Urias starts out the game as though he was a 20-year-old pitcher facing the best team in baseball. He quickly rights himself after giving up one run, and proves once again, he’s no ordinary 20-year-old pitcher. Six innings later Urias exits the game and picks up his fourth straight win. Rookie Corey Seager hits a home run becoming the all-time Dodger leader in home runs for a shortstop. Rookie Andrew Toles finally gets to start again, and guess what? He collects two more hits.

Sunday – Rookie Brock Stewart fans eight Cubs in five scoreless innings. Rookie Andrew Toles pinch hits, gets hit by a pitch, and guess what? Scores the winning run. Stewart also collected his first hit, and it was the first hit of the game. It demoralized Lester so much he was only able to strike out one more hitter after fanning five of the first eight hitters he had faced.

One thing seemed clear. The Dodger rotation has been given a huge lift by the rookies, and Andrew Toles is awesome. ThinkblueLA gives us some insight into why Andrew Toles has the best blackbeard on the Dodgers.

Jose De Leon won’t be a Dodger rookie until he’s called but he’s still part of the awesome Dodger rookie week.

Jose De Leon, rhp, Dodgers. De Leon was the No. 1 player on last week’s Hot Sheet and after Sunday’s outing, he most assuredly will be on the list next week. De Leon struck out 13 in 7.2 scoreless innings as Oklahoma City beat Colorado Springs (Brewers) 6-1. In his past three starts, De Leon has struck out 33 and walked none. De Leon’s fastball can touch 95 mph and he has a tight slider, but it’s the plus-plus changeup that makes him unhittable at times. In addition, the win clinched the PCL American Northern division title for OKC.

Oh, look more on Brock Stewart by Baseball America:

Brock Stewart, rhp, Dodgers. Stewart had a meteoric rise from high Class A to the majors. The son of Rays scout Jeff Stewart, Brock was barely on the Dodgers’ radar at the start of the year, but injuries and his performance forced their hand. His first three major league appearances didn’t go well, but on Sunday he matched up with Jon Lester of the Cubs and turned in his best performance to date. He didn’t get his first MLB win, but struck out eight in five scoreless innings as the Dodgers went on to a 1-0 win over baseball’s best team.

 

Brock Stewart has made three starts and has this strange statistical quirk

♦ August 28, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Brock Stewart dominated for five innings today which didn’t surprise me. Brock has made three starts and only given up runs in three of his 14 innings. Maybe I don’t understand quirky.

Just seems funky to me:

In his three starts:

  • 12 Scoreless innings
  • 1 five run inning
  • 1 Four run inning
  • five runs zero outs so he can’t even say he pitched an inning. I don’t even know what to call it.
  • Brock has either thrown a scoreless inning or given up at least four runs.

Anyway Cub fans can’t be happy about today’s outcome. They had Jon Lester going against a team who can’t hit left hand pitching. They were facing a pitcher with an 11.00 plus ERA in his two previous starts.

And they still lost, because……..pick your poison:

  • Hit Toles with a pitch
  • Error by the pitcher on a play at first
  • 3rd baseman forgot that 2nd baseman was playing in right field and Adrian Gonzalez was running to 1st base.
  • Brock Stewart was awesome
  • Combination of all above

In any case you can bet if/when the Dodgers face the Cubs in the NLCS they won’t be using Bud Norris or Julio Urias or Brock Stewart. By that point the big boys should be ready to take over for the kiddie corps.

And as someone who has given Clayton Kershaw some grief over his October shortcomings, I have to say it made me boil to hear a Cub fan say they weren’t worried about October because Kershaw doesn’t show up in October. I felt the need to swing a Loney their way but she was eighty year old and I can understand her being a cranky Cub fan.

What a series, baseball doesn’t get any better than what Dodger fans saw this weekend.

I’ve tried to cut down on my games this year so that I can hear all of Vinny but I went today and saw a great game with David Young and Coach Jay.  I’ve heard that Vin was at his best and wowed the Cub fans with his 3rd inning. I’ve got it ready to tape at 02:00AM so hopefully I’ll be able to hear it for myself sometime tomorrow.

And how about Jose De Leon – Oh my

Dodgers don’t make it easy for Brock Stewart

♦ August 28, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Brock Stewart will be making his 3rd career start for the Dodgers today, and he’ll be going against the best team in baseball, and Jon Lester.

In his first start against the Brewers way back on June 29th, Brock pitched four scoreless innings. The problem was the 2nd inning where he gave up five runs.

In his last start start on August 3rd, the Dodgers asked the rookie Stewart to navigate Coors field and he threw three scoreless innings, but also got hammered in the 1st and 5th giving up 5 and 4 runs respectively.

It would seem that Brock is either going to hold the team scoreless or give up at least four runs in the inning. No picket fences for Brock Stewart.  It is a unique approach that probably does not have the possibility of any long term success:)

This will be the 3rd game out of four that a rookie will be making the start for the Dodgers. Brock Stewart has little use for the prospect ladder

I’m headed out to the game courtesy of tickets from Coach Jay, and hope to catch up with David Young while there.

Barnes, Puig, and FO machinations

♦ August 27, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

The Dodger FO wowed the rules crowd when they pulled a fast one this week to manipulate the 40 man roster by sending Kenta Maeda to the Arizona League but still managed to find a way to use him this Monday or Tuesday.

That was fairly brilliant.

But I am perplexed by what happened today in Oklahoma. When the Dodgers traded for Carlos Ruiz and sent A.J. Ellis packing I had heard it was because Barnes had taken a pitch off his hand and they were concerned that they needed catching and had lost confidence in A.J. as the backup. Yet today Barnes was catching for the Oklahoma Dodgers and drove in the game winning run.

You aren’t going to convince me that the 37 year old Ruiz is a better option than a combination of Austin Barnes and A.J. Ellis. I don’t care how hot Ruiz was in August, because I remember how cold he was in April – June, and all of 2015. Everyone will point to the lack of success of Barnes when faced with major league at bats, but given how few at bats those have been that don’t mean a thing to me. And who knows these pitchers better than Austin Barnes? The man has been catching all these rookies all year.

I bought the idea if Barnes was hurt, but if he’s not hurt, the trade doesn’t make much sense to me. He’s about the perfect back up catcher.

But Ruiz has all that experience……….We’ll see if that pays dividend for a 37 year old catcher when the experience happened when he was 30 years old.

And Puig is facing the longest time out ever put down by a flabbergasted parent.

But the Dodger train keeps chugging along led by Rookie after rookie. Choo Choo